Tag: load shedding

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are warned not to be too desperate. South Africa’s SMEs are struggling to survive power cuts. Many have shut their doors, but those that remain are desperate for power and may take cheap shortcuts that turn out to be more expensive.

All eyes were on the President’s recent cabinet reshuffle; the vast majority of which was to see who would be appointed the new Minister of Electricity; responsible for putting an end to South Africa's load shedding woes. But amid all the noise (and Instagram memes!), you might have missed some interesting additions to the cabinet, including a new Deputy Minister for the Department for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.

During the pandemic, many schools around the world were forced to shift from physical to virtual classrooms in a matter of a week. This quickly sparked debate among academics and industry leaders about the tenets of traditional learning versus that of online learning, at a time when education continuity was critical. 

MultiChoice Group (MCG), Africa’s leading entertainment company, returned its Rest of Africa business to profitability and further expanded its consumer services ecosystem during the year ended 31 March 2023 (FY23).

Load shedding – a measure implemented by Eskom to address mounting pressures on the national electricity grid, has been a South African reality since 2007. The past few years have, however, seen a dramatic upsurge in the severity of scheduled blackouts as Eskom attempts to deal with multiple infrastructural problems as well as theft and vandalism.

Despite getting a bad rap in the past, millennials – defined as those born between 1981 – 1986 – are now all grown up. And, for an age group that was once unfairly dubbed the most narcissistic generation of all time, they’re actually pretty good parents.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is finally emerging onto the market as a technology that connects devices, systems and solutions and that has the potential to revolutionise multiple industries. IoT isn’t new, but it has simmered on the edges of innovation and transformation for years and now it has, as the World Economic Forum puts it, ‘quietly arrived’.

Business premises is one of the first places companies take stock of when assessing their electricity usage and the optimisation thereof. And rightly so, approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and 70% of energy consumption are attributed to buildings. Moreover, it’s estimated that 30% of energy is wasted in buildings.

Imagine installing a R2.5 million solar operation to power your property, only to have your property destroyed by a fire. This is the very real risk property owners face if the installation of the solar power solution is not done in accordance with regulation and South African National Standards (SANS).

With a stage 16 draft in place, and stage 8 load shedding almost put into practice, it’s important that individuals and organisations get ready for what might happen if the lights go out. The National Rationalised Specifications (NRS) Association issued a press release. A non-event for most companies, a singular moment for the NRS as it may well be the first in the organisation’s history.